Our Sites

Kyrgyzstan Journalists Kidnap Fellow Journalist as "Practical Joke"

Two Kyrgyzstan reporters decided to play a practical joke on another by kidnapping her at gunpoint, then forcing her to strip to her underwear and sing before revealing that they were just playing around. Nazira Aytbekova was taken in Kyrgyzstan's capital of Bishtek, then taken to a "wasteland" outside of the city. Here's her account of what happened:

“They took off the sack from my head and said: ‘Sing!’ I refused. They told me to dance and somebody was standing behind me and constantly poked the gun at my head. They said to me: ‘OK, say your last words. And then we’ll shoot you.’”

After forcing her to say her last words and recording everything on there cell phones, they admitted it was a joke. Aytbekova wasn't laughing. Her two "kidnappers" were fired from their jobs, and face charges of kidnapping. Now, nobody's laughing.